Luke Pinkerton (center) and Polytorx colleagues in New York during
the Carrot Capital competition. (photo courtesy of gatech-news)

HOLLAND – You may not have heard of Helix yet, but Hope engineering
graduate Luke Pinkerton is on his way to making it a household word.
Luke’s company Polytorx has
already exceeded $2 Million in sales. In the process, he has garnered
major entrepreneurial
awards including: The Michigan Technology Tricorridor Award, A National
Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Grant, The National Collegiate
Inventors and Innovators Association (NCIIA) Award for Excellence in
Marketing, and the prestigious Carrot Capital Business Plan Competition.

After graduating from Hope with engineering and physics degrees in 1997,
Pinkerton went on to study for his MS degree at the University of Michigan.
There, he worked with Antoine Naaman, U-M professor of structural and
materials engineering, to test and produce a product that will hopefully
revolutionize the construction industry.

Pinkerton’s products are pieces of twisted, corrosion-resistant
wire with triangular cross sections which are added to cement while it
is mixing. These small wires act as corkscrews in a cork, effectively
increasing the durability of cement by 200%. This is a significant improvement
over traditional concrete reinforcement techniques. The product, dubbed “Helix” by
the creators, will allow structures such as buildings, roads and airport
runways to flex rather than simply cracking. Helix is also a very cost-effective
and inexpensive product to make, primarily made of scrap metal from steel-belted
tire manufacturers.

The potential uses for Helix are so numerous that Pinkerton rushed to
get his MBA at Georgia Tech and founded PolyTorx,
a company staffed by himself and several other Georgia Tech MBA graduates
which is committed to producing and spreading the word about Helix. The
company is currently located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. PolyTorx has been
granted several awards, including a $7,750 grant from the National Collegiate
Inventors and Innovators Association (NCIIA), an offer of $250,000 in
funding from the 2003 Carrot Capital Business Plan Competition, and a
$45,000 service package from the 2003 Georgia Tech Business Plan Competition.
Pinkerton also accepted the NCIIA/DSEF award for excellence in marketing
on behalf of the company. With sales of over $2 million in 2004 and product
sales happening in 10 different countries, PolyTorx received $500,000
as winner of the Michigan Technology Tricorridor and a $100,000 National
Science Foundation SBIR grant. Helix has even received national attention
by being featured on a May 2006 episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

When asked about the reason for his success, Pinkerton credits Hope
College with providing an effective liberal arts education. “Since
starting the business I’m constantly faced with challenges. I can
trace many of the tools I use to solve these problems back to classes
I took at Hope College,” Pinkerton says. “I strongly believe
diverse programs like Hope’s are the key to maintaining the competitiveness
of American engineers in the global marketplace…By its very design
Hope College’s program encourages development of diverse leadership
skills through sports, club activities, class activities and core liberal
arts curriculum.”